Information about my law practice concentrating on advocacy for people with disabilities, seniors and their families. Get to know me not only as a lawyer, but my personal interests, passions and family activities.

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Motherhood

February 22, 2013

Fifteen-year-old Myra Brown is a typical, bright teen who has her
sights set on attending the University of Cambridge in England. Her
mother just so happens to have intellectual disability.

Myra and her mom, Bonnie Brown, a single parent who works at a
Philadelphia-area Wendy’s, are no different than many mother-daughter
duos, baking cupcakes, reading and watching television together.

But they rely on a handful of social workers who spend several hours
each week ensuring that bills are paid and other everyday chores are
taken care of. And, when it comes to help with homework, Myra knows to
turn to others for assistance.

Myra says it may take her mom longer to understand directions, for
example, but she’s deeply protective of the woman who raised her.

“My mom does everything that a regular mom does, so I never thought
of her as different, and I don’t want other people to,” Myra told ABC
News.

February 14, 2013

A common vitamin supplement appears to dramatically reduce a woman's risk of having a child with autism.

A study
of more than 85,000 women in Norway found that those who started taking
folic acid before getting pregnant were about 40 percent less likely to
have a child who developed the disorder, researchers reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

"That's a huge effect," says Ian Lipkin, one of the study's authors and a professor of epidemiology at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.

January 29, 2013

For those of you who don't know me, I'm one of the original cast members of Bravo's hit reality television series The Real Housewives of New Jersey.
I signed on to this show back in 2008 without taking into consideration
how much my life could change. I never stopped to think that there
would be a greater purpose to it. You see, my 3-year-old son, Nicholas,
has autism. We kept it under wraps until we could figure out what was
wrong, and what we were going to do about it, but that time has come.

Honestly, I'm glad it's out there. I don't think people should be afraid or ashamed to share their struggles.
When you open up, you often find that it's the support and generosity
of others that can provide the strength and tools you need to get
through it. Ever since my husband, Chris, and I went public about our
son's diagnosis in People magazine, the support has been
overwhelming. Thousands of you have reached out to us with knowledge,
resources, and success stories. Our family faces many challenges, just
like any other family. Right now, one of our greatest happens to be
helping Nicholas recover from autism—because I believe it's possible.
Maybe not all children will recover, but many have, and all of us
parents with a child on the spectrum should be given that hope.

January 23, 2013

Parents of children with Autism and other developmental disabilities
are “up in arms” over the State’s recent removal of their children from
the Dept. of Human Services and placing them under the Dept of Children
and Families Children's System of Care. According to the parents, the
children are now without case managers and a variety of services are now
absent. As a result, the parents point out, there is no place to go
during a crisis. Furthermore, the parents complain, their telephone
calls are not returned.

The parents have circulated a petition in order to lodge a protest
against what they believe to be an “abandonment” of their children.
According to the petition:

“This petition is for parents of children on the autism spectrum and
other developmental disabilities who are registered with DDD, and their
supporters, who are demanding that services be distributed equitably and
with transparency.

"Parents need to know what services are being delivered and who is
receiving them. For families that were previously receiving services
but were cut, we need to know the services are no longer available. For
families who are registered and have repeatedly been denied services,
we deserve an explanation as to why we are not and have not been
receiving any services.

The National Council on Disability reports that nearly one out of every 10 American kids has a parent with a disability. Within the last few months, they released a report
that, among other issues, highlighted the disproportionate number of
children that are taken away from Mom and Dad due to a parent’s
disability.

They found:

“The child welfare system is ill-equipped to support parents with
disabilities and their families, resulting in disproportionately high
rates of involvement with child welfare services and devastatingly high
rates of parents with disabilities losing their parental rights.”

It’s frightening. Many states actually allow for disability to be
grounds for termination of parental rights. Read that again — and think
about how horrifying that truly sounds.

The report
contains stories from parents who have been through the child welfare
system — some were successful in their battle to retain their parental
rights, and others were not.

January 02, 2013

"Not to seem insensitive; I understand the mother is quite frustrated
and I understand that she's grieving," Attila said, "but the information
that she's providing to the court is moot at this point in time."

Despite Attila's protestations, Freyre had the last word.

"I had her for 14 years — cared (for) and loved her," Freyre said. "And
you have her … in prison, in the hospital, without going out in the
sun, without being with other people, in prison.

"Then, in (12) hours, you took her down to Miami and she died," Freyre
added. "And I want the truth of this to come out. I want justice."

Marie's body remained in storage for nine months while the medical
examiner's office completed its autopsy, and Freyre held a memorial with
no body.

In the end, Marie's body was cremated in Tampa. Her ashes then were sent to Puerto Rico for a private family funeral.

December 27, 2012

Bryan Louzada was one of five medically complex children to die at
Florida nursing homes in the last six months of 2010 — and among 130
such children who have died in those homes since January 2006, records
show. Though medically fragile children who live with their parents, or
in a community setting, also die, state records show they die in far
lower numbers.

State health administrators insist that the choices of parents like
Tereza Pereira are the guiding force behind their decisions on where
sick children live. But interviews and records show Pereira had fought
for half Bryan’s life to find a home-like setting for him. And at every
turn state health and disability chiefs steered him toward an
institution or nursing home.

It is the dirty little secret of Florida’s health and social service
system: Though institutional care can be dramatically more expensive
than in-home care, state agencies push children toward institutions.

Here’s why: Medicaid, the state and federal insurance program for needy
and disabled people, has become the insurer of last resort for virtually
all children with catastrophic disabilities. Under federal law, a
nursing home or facility bed is an entitlement, and that means Florida
health administrators must provide such a bed to any family that asks.
Sometimes-far-less-costly in-home nursing services are not an
entitlement. Because they can, Florida lawmakers cap spending for such
care, resulting in a waiting list of 25,000 for home- and
community-based services.

December 12, 2012

My name is Susan Reynolds and I’m an Air Force spouse, a mom, a
volunteer, an advocate for military children, and I have a disability.
I have a learning disability and attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder (ADHD), which is something that I have struggled with all of my
life.

Every day for the last few years I have come to terms again and again
with who I am. I have an amazing husband and son who have helped me on
my journey. These two wonderful men have shown me that my disability
is something to identify with, not be ashamed of. The Military Special
Needs Network has helped me find my voice and provided me with
direction.

Is my disability a “label” or an identification? I don’t know, but
I’m not choosing. I’m Susan Reynolds and I’m a military spouse and a
mom; I am also an adult who has a learning disability and ADHD. I’m
really proud of being all of these things!

December 07, 2012

So,
the holiday season brings up a lot of strange feelings for parents who
have children on the spectrum. we worry about things like how we're
going to handle the unsolicited advice from family members, how we are
going to keep our children calm and comfortable around a crowd of
unfamiliar people, WHAT to tell everybody our kiddo wants for Christmas
and MY personal most UNFAVORITE- what to say to the maddening comment,
"HHmmm. I don't think it's autism. Maybe it's just ADD or something. He
doesn't LOOK autistic to ME."

This
is something that has been said to a lot of parents with children
falling into the Aspergers/ Pdd-Nos category, and it becomes
infuriating.I have had this said to me a few times, and I never know
what to say. Here have been a few of my responses:

-(I've thought about whipping out the DSM and reading them the diagnostic criteria.)

-I've said, "yeah, maybe you're right." Just to shut them up.

-Sometimes
I start by saying, "He's not autistic the way you're thinking of it-
not all autistic people are non-verbal or Rainman."

December 06, 2012

Kaney O'Neill is a US Naval veteran and a quadriplegic paralyzed from
the chest down. She is also the mother of a young son and she recently
went through a custody battle, based off her disabilities.

"I got a knock on the door on a Sunday afternoon and got served
papers with an emergency junction to have my child removed from my care
because of my disabilities and I had to be in court on Monday morning at
nine o'clock."

Kaney went on to say, "One of the main issues he {her ex-husband] was bringing up was
because I had assistance to facilitate the child care such as
physically changing the diapers. Lucky for me, he did not receive
emergency custody that day and I think the custody battle would have
been a lot different if he had."